Friday 8 January 2010 07.24 EST
First published on Friday 8 January 2010 07.24 EST

Shares in pub group Mitchells & Butlers rose 7.41% this afternoon after it reported that it had seen strong trading over the festive period.

The group, which owns around 2,000 pubs and restaurants across the country including All Bar One and Harvester, said that like-for-like sales grew by a "strong" 3.4% in the six weeks to January 2.

The company's announcement prompted analysts at Charles Stanley to upgrade their rating on the stock to "buy" from "add" and Altium Securites to lift its target price.

"At last we have signs that some of the margin erosion conceded over the recent years is capable of being reclaimed, with M&B indicating that across the last 14 weeks margins have improved by 150 basis points," Charles Stanley says in a note.